A man sentenced
to life imprisonment with no possibility of parole for murdering two women when
he was 17 years old is entitled to a new sentencing hearing under a U.S.
Supreme Court decision that limits judicial authority to impose such sentences
on minors, the Sixth District Court of Appeal ruled yesterday.

The justices
held that Miller v. Alabama [2012] 132 S.Ct. 2455 is retroactive. That
ruling struck down a statute mandating a life sentence without possibility of
parole for juveniles convicted of the highest degree of murder.

Courts must instead
consider a variety of factors before determining whether an LWOP sentence is
appropriate, including the specific role that the defendant played in the crime
and the defendant’s prospects for rehabilitation, the high court said.

Norman Willover
was sentenced to two life sentences without possibility of parole for the 1998
killings. His co-defendant, Joseph Manibusan, was sentenced to death, a
sentence that was upheld two years ago by the state Supreme Court.

Shooting Victims

Priya Matthews,
who was killed, and Jennifer Aninger, who survived despite being shot twice at
close range, were killed in January 1998. They were students at the Monterey
Institute of International Studies, and were shot late night at a municipal
wharf.

According to
testimony, primarily from friends of the defendants, Manibusan and Willover
were driving around specifically looking for victims to rob. Manibusan was
driving, and Willover shot the two women after they did not respond to his
demand for money.

Francis Olivo, a
mother of six, was gunned down hours later on a Seaside street corner.

Prosecutors said
her murder was a thrill killing, and that Manibusan did not speak to her as he
motioned her toward his car and shot her three times.

Prior Opinion

Justice Ming
Chin, in his opinion in the Manibusan appeal, wrote:

“Willover
shot Aninger from very close range — only five to 10
feet — hitting her once in the face — her
forehead — and once in the upper arm, near her face. This
evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the prosecution, reasonably
supports the inference that Willover did not, as defendant asserts, fire
indiscriminately, but focused his attack on Aninger’s head….”

Justice
Bamattre-Manoukian, writing for the court yesterday, said the trial court must
resentence Willover using the factors set forth in Miller. In addition
to holding that the ruling is retroactive, the justices said that a new state
law, permitting defendants sentenced to LWOP for crimes committed as minors, to
seek release on parole after 15 years, is not a substitute for the type of
sentencing required by Miller.